Forest 0-3 Sheffield Wednesday

Nottingham Forest suffered a 3-0 defeat against Sheffield Wednesday at The City Ground this afternoon.

It was a bad day at the office for The Reds as Adam Reach put the visitors into an early lead before Jordan Rhodes' penalty made it two before half time.

Lucas Joao added a third in the second half to ensure that The Owls left Trentside with all three points.

Mark Warburton made three changes to the side which earned a point at Preston on Saturday, with Daryl Murphy, David Vaughan Mustapha Carayol being replaced by Tyler Walker, Andreas Bouchalakis and Barrie McKay.

The Reds created the first opening of the game on three minutes, with Ben Brereton getting down the right flank and delivering a low cross into the area which Walker was unable to convert, but it was the visitors who took a fifth-minute lead.

A corner was only half-cleared by the Forest defence and the ball fell invitingly for Reach on the edge of the box to lash home and unstoppable effort into the top corner with his less-favoured right foot.

Forest responded positively though and had three chances inside the opening 20 minutes to restore parity but failed to take any of them.

Firstly, Brereton skipped past Morgan Fox and drove towards goal on 11, only to see his cross-shot evade Walker and the far post before Kieran Dowell's stinging shot from 25 yards was tipped around the post by Joe Wildsmith.

The best chance of the three fell to the feet of McKay after Liam Bridcutt had led a counter-attack and superbly picked out the winger's run. McKay latched onto his through ball and tried to prod it past Wildsmith but the keeper stood firm to deny him a sixth goal of the season.

Forest were in control of the ball and another chance came and went on the half-hour mark, this time Ben Osborn, pushing on from left back, arrived at the back post to meet McKay's cross but Wildsmith again did well to stop his effort.

Despite all of the pressure on the Wednesday goal, it was the visitors who found the crucial second goal from the penalty spot. Walker was adjudged to have brought his man down in the area following a set piece and Rhodes stepped up confidently to send Jordan Smith the wrong way in first-half added time.

Brereton's shot deflected up and over Wildsmith, but wide of the far post, early on in the second half as The Reds looked to spark a comeback.

Despite Forest dominating possession, Wednesday came closest to adding to the scoring after 60 minutes. Joao hit a ferocious strike towards goal and Smith pulled off a tremendous reaction save to tip it onto the bar and away from danger.

But Joao wasn't to be denied for long as five minutes later the Portuguese striker found a way past Smith to seal the points. A counter-attack led to Reach playing him in on goal and, after a smart shimmy, he hit a low drive into the corner of the net to put the game beyond doubt.

The visitors saw out the rest of the match with consummate ease to take the spoils on Boxing Day.